South Carolina is up to 310 cases of measles in an outbreak that has been ongoing for months, with 99 new cases confirmed between Tuesday and Friday.
The latest cases in the outbreak, which started in early October, are concentrated in Spartanburg County in the northern part of the state.
As of Friday, 200 exposed people were in quarantine, and nine confirmed with measles were in isolation, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said. The latest date for their quarantine to end is Jan. 29.
The newest public exposure to measles occurred at Jesse S. Bobo Elementary School in Spartanburg, 75 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina. South Carolina health officials began notifying faculty, other school staff and families about the potential exposure on Dec. 30.
Among the 310 confirmed cases in the South Carolina outbreak, 69 patients were below the age of 5, 206 were between 5 and 17 years old, 29 were 18 years or older, and six were minors under the age of 18 whose exact ages were not disclosed.
The vast majority of cases are among the unvaccinated, at 256. Two people took one of the two recommended doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, two others were fully vaccinated and the remaining 50 cases affected people whose vaccination status is unknown.
Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, taking one dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective at stopping measles, while taking two doses works 97% of the time.
For 2025, South Carolina had the second most cases of the disease at 224, behind Texas at 803, according to the CDC. The final count of measles cases in the U.S. in 2025 was 2,144.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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